This was Autumn Heather’s reaction when she heard the three key factors that seem to foster exceptional mental growth in what I refer to as the genius study. (see below for details).
The results of the study concluded with three factors common to the childhoods of 20 geniuses who contributed greatly to society:
1. A high degree of attention focused upon the child by parents and other adults, expressed in intensive educational measure and, usually, abundant love.
When people learned that I homeschooled my children, many reacted with: “That must be a lot of work.” Yes. Nurturing souls and minds call for a high degree of attention.
2. Isolation from peers, especially outside the family.
Some children are not the best role models for other children. Being homeschooled isolated my children from their peers to some extent, though I feel that children need some time alone to process and learn. We had quiet time every afternoon so that we all had time to read or chill or whatever. When children go from school to sports to family dinner to bed, do they have enough time to be alone to think or process the day?
The third factor is a direct result of the previous two--
3. A rich efflorescence of fantasy as a reaction to the preceding conditions.
Definition:
-efflorescence -- a bursting forth or flowering-fantasy -- the faculty or activity of imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable
Here is a small smattering of pictures that demonstrate this, though ,from talking to my children I know that much of the fantasy they experienced while growing up could never be photographed or quantified.
Lots of dressing up--
Chase with his birthday cape, and bow and arrows--(this cape shows up later)
Mouse Chase on bike and pioneer Autumn Heather
Hal IV used a magic lamp to ask a Mary Snedegar to a church prom
Jasmyn didn't just dress up as the Scandia mascot,
she put her heart into being a real pelican-riding Viking
.JPG)
I never knew which century or dimension Giselle would be dressed in from day to day
Autumn Heather as Mulan
.JPG)
Hal is a cowboy
Amber and Jasmyn dressed up on their own during the Colonial Escapade school year
Pre-teen Amber and Jasmyn dressed up almost every day in their colonial dresses.
They awoke before dawn to milk their pretend cows, and do their chores before school began.
The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins112024.html#biypDQ1gXk3rqDHG.99
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins112024.html#biypDQ1gXk3rqDHG.99
The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins112024.html#biypDQ1gXk3rqDHG.99
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins112024.html#biypDQ1gXk3rqDHG.99
Plays, ballets, and other performances
“The gift of fantasy has meant more to me
than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.”
Albert Einstein
Jasmyn was always orchestrating some kind of entertainment for the family.
Rapunzel, with Amber, cousins Shelley and Collette, Hal IV, Jasmyn
.JPG)
Backyard Independence Day performance by the Bradley and other neighborhood kids
Jasmyn's ballet--Revenge of the Kadishaw. She talked 12-year-old boys into participating!
.JPG)
Jasmyn and Amber perform A Couple of Swells, from Easter Parade--
Chase, wearing that cape he got for his 4th or 5th birthday,
and I perform a dialogue from The Court Jester--
"I am craven and thou art my master."
Giselle and Autumn Heather performing a Cinderella puppet show
Pretending
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.
If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
Albert Einstein
Intelligence isn't the most important thing. I want my posterity to value the good and the truth and the beautiful. But I thought it was interesting that one of the most celebrated scientists of all time, would say that reading fairy tales helps children's intelligence.
Autumn Heather and Giselle playing store. The sign reads "Welcome" in Danish.
Autumn Heather, Giselle and Chase make pies in an elaborate mud-pie factory
One day I came home from shopping to find the entire house transformed into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Jasmyn was Beatrix Lestrange, and Giselle and Autumn Heather were having a grand time!
Cousin Arden and Autumn Heather play Primary,
complete with wooden spoon microphone taped to the chair
Chase, Autumn Heather, and Giselle with their box houses
Jasmyn and Amber trekked around the block with their wheelbarrow handcart.
This was years before our pioneer school year.
Giselle milks her disposable-glove-filled-with-milk cow
Hal and Chase fought many battle with stick weapons,
and sometimes the girls got into the action too
Autumn Heather attempts to make a mask for her Phantom of the Opera party
Giselle slept in this teepee long after our American girl school year was over.
Hal, Eldon, and Chase play in a snow fort
Giselle visits Autumn Heather's ballet studio.
Definition:
-fantasy -- an idea about doing something that is far removed from normal reality.
Children are naturally playful, but the key is to keep our playfulness into adulthood. One of the reasons I loved and still love being with my children--they make me laugh.
George Washington hair
Autumn, Chase, and Giselle wrestle with Dad.
Autumn Heather and boyfriend
Chase at the park
Hal and giant bubbles
.JPG)
Autumn Heather with the camera
Jasmyn found a way to sing into her microphone while cleaning the kitchen.
Autumn Heather, Katy Pearl, Giselle
Jasmyn started the seaweed goddess craze years ago
Autumn Heather-Who and Jasmyn Summer-Who
Hal showing me how he would dress in the Sahara Desert
Jasmyn, the cyclops pirate
Nerdy pirates on Christmas Eve
Potato Heads Autumn Heather, Giselle, and Chase
Hal plays in the hailstorm
.JPG)
Autumn and Amber Pringle Ducks
.JPG)
Goofy-faces pictures over a few years. Directions: point a digital camera toward your face;
make continuous goofy faces while the camera clicks; look and laugh at the photos. Repeat.
.JPG)
Hal IV and Chase's birthday goatees--the remains of their birthday presents from Grandma.
The efflorescence of fantasy overflowed around here.
Naaman, Captain of the host of the king of Syria, with leprosy. I substituted for seminary on the first day of Old Testament seminary, and made sure all the kids knew I had leprosy as I shook their hands.
An interesting observation by Dr. McCurdy, the originator of the genius study:
"It might be remarked that the mass education of our public school system is, in its way, a vast experiment on the effect of reducing all three of the above factors to minimal values, and should, accordingly, tend to suppress the occurrence of genius."
("The Childhood Pattern of Genius” by Dr. Harold G. McCurdy is cited by Reed Benson in “Private Schools: Seedbed for Greatness.”
No comments:
Post a Comment